I don't think that's specifically because of Sony, but because of the market success. Developers are very interested in making games for consoles with large userbases. The last NES game came out in 1994, and the GBA is still goiung strong.
You're right about the hard drive, and although integrated WiFi would be so much better (come on, how much would it have cost?) it's not that much of a problem for people prepared to have a cable running to their router. (Although I can imagine alot of people opting for the cheaper version, and when they find out they need a phone line or a cable running to their router to play online, won't bother)
But the fact that they won't even read some kind of memory card, even if it is Sony's memory stick is just stupid. I can get a USB reader for 5 Euros!! How will you transfer saves? What about the downloads?
As for HDMI, I haven't got anything to add to the previous comments.
It seems that the "core" version is taking away everything they claim is next-gen.
It would have been better for them to launch one version at 550 dollars, and offering a hard drive upgrade either via USB or SATA
I don't think it would work with your suggestion of calculating it with the speed of light. It would have to have some heck of a temporal resolution for that.
A much easier solution would be a CCD chip that could pick up infrared light. With 3 infrared LEDs/reflectors, it could calculate the exact position and orientation as long as the 3 reflectors were in viewing angle.
Not quite. Although it is called "trade show" it hasn't got much to do with retailers. I can't imagine EB games sending some folks down there to see whether or not they should order a few of these new-fangled PS3-thingies.
The only thing along those lines are a few small developers, trying to find publishers for their games.
The main thing about E3 is and always was a press event, with manufacturers wanting to unveil and promote their new products, specifically to the gaming press, who then give the information on to their readers.
That's exactly what Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft want.
It's not really any different from trade shows for other goods, only that there are so many interested fans anticipating the event.
Don't get me wrong. I'm as much against having the general public involved as you. "Booth Babes" are a prime example of how the event has turned to becoming a party for journalists and such, with games companies then opting to make announcenments and shows as far from E3 as possible.
I may regret this, as the slashdot hoards might crash the servers, so nobody can enjoy it, but at Nintendo's E3 site, they say that they'll have live coverage of the press conference.
Sure, lets have reward schemes for not killing people, for not stealing, and for not avoiding taxes (huh?)
Whilst there are some examples where deposits make sense, such as reusable bottles, sometimes new legislations have to ensure an effective way of dealing with waste.
Three-hundred years ago, nobody was doing anything wrong if they emptied a bucket of shit on the street. Should we reward people who don't?
But the quality you encode it to is the quality you will ultimately receive. As others have pointed out, CDs are lossless, so if you encode to 256 mp3, you should be on the safe side.
And you can use rewritable CDs.
As far as the legality goes, it's probably against one of those shitty EULAs, which are always a pain in the ass.
It's not really a "simple task" at the level OS-usability is today. We can still be running computers in console mode if we want to.
It's not like you're just buying a kernel when you buy an OS. People are looking for a newer, better, nicer and easier way to interact with their computer.
They're looking for special 3D effects and seamless media capabilities. These things are considered part of the OS.
If you're not interested in any of them, why even bother with Vista?
Especially with music downloads, supply is practically infinate (yes, it is possible that apples servers wouldn't be able to handle infinite bandwidth, but in the real world, it isn't an issue)
Even with CDs, if demand is surprisingly high, production can be quickly adapted, and the market can be satisfied. The only situation in which the classic supply-demand curve would kick in is in a temporary shortage.
If need be, it wouldn't be much of a challenge to create a copy of a CD for every single person on the planet. But demand is nowhere near that high.
There is one different aspect that is important though: market saturation. People won't (always) buy things just because the price is low. The publisher might decide that the market for Madonna CDs is saturated, so that most people who wouldn't pay 15 Dollars for on, probably aren't going to change their mind if they see it for $5.
Far from being weak, the profits are literally sickening.
First off, let's correct a few mistakes. You are confusing Blizzard with Vivendi games. The article was referring to Vivendi, the publisher. Two different companies, so you can't really use the numbers given.
Aswell the numbers given are not for a whole year, but for one quater.
I don't know much Vivendi takes in as the publisher (I think I paid my subscription directly to Blizzard, but I could be wrong), but it doesn't really make a difference. All I know is that somewhere, somebody is making a hell of a lot of money.
5 Million is a huge number for any game to sell. And the fact that all of those customers pay $15 a month for as long as they want to play, generates a cash flow that is bigger than anything the games industry has ever known.
Compare it to San Andreas, which sold 13 million, but all they get is the 50-60 bucks people payed up-front minus the distribution costs (that's assuming the everybody bought it for full price before it went platinum). Let's take say $40 that the publishers and developers receive total (it's probably much lower) That means that in 7 months they get the same amount of revenue generated from one of the most successful games ever, and hardly have to do anything.
As for the development and maintainence costs, they're nothing compared to the supscription fees. Development costs are probably comparable with many other games, and if it costs Blizzard a fraction of the 50 million+ they get in monthly fees, I'll flush 95 Euros (the amount I gave Blizzard when I tried the game last year) down the toilet.
If there was a lack of interest or new content, the games industry and the time spent playing wouldn't be growing as rapidly as it is today. Chinese teenagers aren't loosing interest, they're only just getting interested.
Piracy has been around aslong a few people who consider themselves "smart" wanted to save a few bucks, and the easier it is, the more commonly it's practiced.
To make good content, developers rely on the money made from their games, and conterary to you're assumption, alot of good content is created.
teenagers in a lot of cultures (China, SE Asia) tend to spend a lot of time studying (mostly to get into the required universities...), and really don't have a lot of time sitting at the computer, so mobile games and games suited to more casual play would tend to take off.
Then why is WoW so successful? Is it casual? Is it mobile? Do teenagers like it because they need not invest alot of tim? No!
Is it because it can't be pirated and ties players to monthly subscriptions? Probably.
As to you're pricing assumtions, official DVD releases are sold for prices comparable with pirated copies, at about $2 per movie. Games might be a little higher, but I doubt they exceed the $10 mark too much.
The "self-contained" attachment is only for (Video)DVDs. It will probably be some kind of playback software, to be installed on the system, like the XBOX remote, but without the remote.
Making an external BR/HDDVD drive like the XBOX360 wouldn't make any sense, as the revolution can't output HDTV, and nobody needs that much space for games.
While I haven't got a source, I heard that the situation with DVD players is that the manufacturing costs are about $1 per machine, and the licensing fees are in the region of $15 per unit.
As for your examples, that's what the attachment is for.
MP3's are a good example of how dependant a format can be on it's name. Granted, alot of people just say "ipod" when they talk about them, because it is so widespread, but have you ever heard anyone saying "I got myself a new WMA-Player".
Or when AAC takes over on non-ipod hardware, I can't imagine people will start calling them AAC-Players (I've heard people call them mp4s because of their container format)
Have you ever seen any "personal digital music player" other than the ipod without "MP3-Player" printed all over the box?
Slashdot Mirror
The Wii will use attchments put on the edges of the TV screen that the controller will be able to detect and translate into an exact spacial position.
I don't think that's specifically because of Sony, but because of the market success. Developers are very interested in making games for consoles with large userbases. The last NES game came out in 1994, and the GBA is still goiung strong.
You're right about the hard drive, and although integrated WiFi would be so much better (come on, how much would it have cost?) it's not that much of a problem for people prepared to have a cable running to their router. (Although I can imagine alot of people opting for the cheaper version, and when they find out they need a phone line or a cable running to their router to play online, won't bother)
But the fact that they won't even read some kind of memory card, even if it is Sony's memory stick is just stupid. I can get a USB reader for 5 Euros!!
How will you transfer saves? What about the downloads?
As for HDMI, I haven't got anything to add to the previous comments.
It seems that the "core" version is taking away everything they claim is next-gen.
It would have been better for them to launch one version at 550 dollars, and offering a hard drive upgrade either via USB or SATA
BTW, typing out Wii is less than 1/3 the amount of work of typing out Revolution.
You know what we need?
We need a Wii button.
I don't think it would work with your suggestion of calculating it with the speed of light. It would have to have some heck of a temporal resolution for that.
A much easier solution would be a CCD chip that could pick up infrared light. With 3 infrared LEDs/reflectors, it could calculate the exact position and orientation as long as the 3 reflectors were in viewing angle.
natural energy the Wii can assist in depleting before bedtime
Let's hope so
Yes, and via the Wifi connection, it uses the feedback from the gaming public to adjust the difficulty.
Not quite. Although it is called "trade show" it hasn't got much to do with retailers. I can't imagine EB games sending some folks down there to see whether or not they should order a few of these new-fangled PS3-thingies.
The only thing along those lines are a few small developers, trying to find publishers for their games.
The main thing about E3 is and always was a press event, with manufacturers wanting to unveil and promote their new products, specifically to the gaming press, who then give the information on to their readers.
That's exactly what Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft want.
It's not really any different from trade shows for other goods, only that there are so many interested fans anticipating the event.
Don't get me wrong. I'm as much against having the general public involved as you. "Booth Babes" are a prime example of how the event has turned to becoming a party for journalists and such, with games companies then opting to make announcenments and shows as far from E3 as possible.
I may regret this, as the slashdot hoards might crash the servers, so nobody can enjoy it, but at Nintendo's E3 site, they say that they'll have live coverage of the press conference.
thank god for third-party manufacturers
Sure, lets have reward schemes for not killing people, for not stealing, and for not avoiding taxes (huh?)
Whilst there are some examples where deposits make sense, such as reusable bottles, sometimes new legislations have to ensure an effective way of dealing with waste.
Three-hundred years ago, nobody was doing anything wrong if they emptied a bucket of shit on the street. Should we reward people who don't?
Wow, I never knew Duracell made rechargable batteries until I clicked the link.
Velorum is the name, I believe.
Hello Kitty, here I come...
Sure, a tiny nuclear bomb in the vast vacuum of the earths exosphere is going to destroy all those nasty sattellites.
I don't want to back Apple here.
But the quality you encode it to is the quality you will ultimately receive. As others have pointed out, CDs are lossless, so if you encode to 256 mp3, you should be on the safe side.
And you can use rewritable CDs.
As far as the legality goes, it's probably against one of those shitty EULAs, which are always a pain in the ass.
It's not really a "simple task" at the level OS-usability is today. We can still be running computers in console mode if we want to.
It's not like you're just buying a kernel when you buy an OS. People are looking for a newer, better, nicer and easier way to interact with their computer.
They're looking for special 3D effects and seamless media capabilities. These things are considered part of the OS.
If you're not interested in any of them, why even bother with Vista?
I'll also note on the whole 10 days thing that I've never heard of a place that doesn't give you at least two weeks.
5 working days--> one working week
10 working days--> two working weeks
And there's plenty of people who don't get 'bank holidays'. 24 hour manned jobs, most storefronts, etc..
Yes, but they are compensated for that by being given a day off some time later.
This is not a case of supply and demand.
Especially with music downloads, supply is practically infinate (yes, it is possible that apples servers wouldn't be able to handle infinite bandwidth, but in the real world, it isn't an issue)
Even with CDs, if demand is surprisingly high, production can be quickly adapted, and the market can be satisfied. The only situation in which the classic supply-demand curve would kick in is in a temporary shortage.
If need be, it wouldn't be much of a challenge to create a copy of a CD for every single person on the planet. But demand is nowhere near that high.
There is one different aspect that is important though: market saturation. People won't (always) buy things just because the price is low. The publisher might decide that the market for Madonna CDs is saturated, so that most people who wouldn't pay 15 Dollars for on, probably aren't going to change their mind if they see it for $5.
Who's the first to hack the system, and display a giant goatse in the evening sky?
Far from being weak, the profits are literally sickening.
First off, let's correct a few mistakes. You are confusing Blizzard with Vivendi games. The article was referring to Vivendi, the publisher. Two different companies, so you can't really use the numbers given.
Aswell the numbers given are not for a whole year, but for one quater.
I don't know much Vivendi takes in as the publisher (I think I paid my subscription directly to Blizzard, but I could be wrong), but it doesn't really make a difference. All I know is that somewhere, somebody is making a hell of a lot of money.
5 Million is a huge number for any game to sell. And the fact that all of those customers pay $15 a month for as long as they want to play, generates a cash flow that is bigger than anything the games industry has ever known.
Compare it to San Andreas, which sold 13 million, but all they get is the 50-60 bucks people payed up-front minus the distribution costs (that's assuming the everybody bought it for full price before it went platinum). Let's take say $40 that the publishers and developers receive total (it's probably much lower)
That means that in 7 months they get the same amount of revenue generated from one of the most successful games ever, and hardly have to do anything.
As for the development and maintainence costs, they're nothing compared to the supscription fees. Development costs are probably comparable with many other games, and if it costs Blizzard a fraction of the 50 million+ they get in monthly fees, I'll flush 95 Euros (the amount I gave Blizzard when I tried the game last year) down the toilet.
If there was a lack of interest or new content, the games industry and the time spent playing wouldn't be growing as rapidly as it is today. Chinese teenagers aren't loosing interest, they're only just getting interested.
Piracy has been around aslong a few people who consider themselves "smart" wanted to save a few bucks, and the easier it is, the more commonly it's practiced.
To make good content, developers rely on the money made from their games, and conterary to you're assumption, alot of good content is created.
teenagers in a lot of cultures (China, SE Asia) tend to spend a lot of time studying (mostly to get into the required universities...), and really don't have a lot of time sitting at the computer, so mobile games and games suited to more casual play would tend to take off.
Then why is WoW so successful? Is it casual? Is it mobile? Do teenagers like it because they need not invest alot of tim? No!
Is it because it can't be pirated and ties players to monthly subscriptions? Probably.
As to you're pricing assumtions, official DVD releases are sold for prices comparable with pirated copies, at about $2 per movie. Games might be a little higher, but I doubt they exceed the $10 mark too much.
The "self-contained" attachment is only for (Video)DVDs. It will probably be some kind of playback software, to be installed on the system, like the XBOX remote, but without the remote.
Making an external BR/HDDVD drive like the XBOX360 wouldn't make any sense, as the revolution can't output HDTV, and nobody needs that much space for games.
While I haven't got a source, I heard that the situation with DVD players is that the manufacturing costs are about $1 per machine, and the licensing fees are in the region of $15 per unit.
As for your examples, that's what the attachment is for.
MP3's are a good example of how dependant a format can be on it's name. Granted, alot of people just say "ipod" when they talk about them, because it is so widespread, but have you ever heard anyone saying "I got myself a new WMA-Player".
Or when AAC takes over on non-ipod hardware, I can't imagine people will start calling them AAC-Players (I've heard people call them mp4s because of their container format)
Have you ever seen any "personal digital music player" other than the ipod without "MP3-Player" printed all over the box?